Adventures in Japan

Scientifically proven to be delicious

Tyler, dedicated educator that he is, went in to work bright and early this morning. The rest of us bummed around for a bit and then walked to Den Den Town. By the time we got there, Nate wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home. So we all caught the subway back (ride one stop, transfer, ride one stop, transfer, ride two stops, get off, walk) then Trev and I headed back out to Namba, near the far end of Den Den. I don't think we ever made it back to the discount electronics shops. Instead we found happy hour. There's a bar called The Hub down a little side street among the shopping arcades in Namba. The interior is cozy, the food is good, they have imported beers on tap, and the cocktails are interesting (some with a lot of kick). I probably wouldn't have given the place a second look, except that all their cocktails were on for half price between 5:00 and 7:00. Well that's not a bad deal. Plus, they have an all you can drink special with food for ¥2300, which I guarantee that we will try sometime. Probably.


We eventually made it back to Orange House, where Nate was up and about again. We sat around and waited for Tyler, then we all headed out for something to eat. Nate made an excellent call when he suggested we try the sushi place down the street.

We started out by ordering pretty ordinary things, stuff we had tried before and knew we would probably like. Then, because we are cruel and horrible people, we ordered Nate some natto rolls. Natto, as you may recall, are nasty, smelly, stringy fermented soybeans. Yum! But Nate ate one like a trooper. I guess the guys behind the counter were pretty impressed by that, so they brought us a present. They wouldn't tell us what it was until after we ate it, but it turned out to be sea cucumber. Really good. That was followed by jellyfish, also quite nice, which the chef identified to us (after we ate it) by drawing a picture. So cute! Then he brought us fugu (poison, poison, tasty fish), which is, like, crazy expensive, but for us it was free. Ty, Trev & Nate said it was really good, but I couldn't really taste it. I'd just eaten a whole lot of some rather hot wasabi before he brought the dish to our table, but I didn't want to insult him by not taking some of the mystery fish when everyone else did, so I ate it while my tongue was still burning. Once he told us what it was I was pretty disappointed that I'd missed out on its supposedly delicate flavours, but I'm still pretty stoked that he brought it for us. We also had fugu skin in there somewhere, and whale sashimi, which was really, really good. Best sushi experience of my life!

Turns out it was just a clever ploy to steal Tyler's gloves.


That other white guy in the picture is Aussie Ben. He showed up later for some beer. Good times.